The envelope which contained a Dec. 1969 Zodiac letter to San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli.

The envelope which contained a Dec. 1969 Zodiac letter to San Francisco attorney Melvin Belli.

Photo: The Chronicle, Chronicle Archive

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Although other serial killers had far more victims, few killers in American history have intrigued and terrified the public like the man known as Zodiac.

Although other serial killers had far more victims, few killers in American history have intrigued and terrified the public like the man known as Zodiac.

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The Zodiac Killer's first confirmed murders took place right before Christmas 1968. On Dec. 20, David Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, were on their very first date. The pair pulled into a well-known lover's lane on Lake Herman Road in Benicia. Zodiac approached their vehicle and ordered them out at gunpoint. He opened fire, killing them both. Police had no leads until six months later... less

The Zodiac Killer's first confirmed murders took place right before Christmas 1968. On Dec. 20, David Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, were on their very first date. The pair pulled into a well-known ... more

Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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On the night of July 4, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were sitting in their parked car at Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. A car pulled up beside them, idled, then left. Some 10 minutes later, the car returned and parked behind them. Armed with a 9 mm pistol, both were shot as they sat in the car. Ferrin died, but Mageau, badly wounded, survived.

At 12:40 a.m., Vallejo police received a call from a man claiming to be the shooter. He also took responsibility for the Benicia murders, saying, "I also killed those kids last year."

On the night of July 4, 1969, Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau were sitting in their parked car at Blue Rock Springs Park in Vallejo. A car pulled up beside them, idled, then left. Some 10 minutes later, the ... more

Photo: Beth Spotswood

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On Aug. 1, 1969, newspapers began to receive the first of Zodiac's famous letters. The Vallejo Times Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner all received letters from Zodiac boasting of his crimes and warning he'd strike again if the letters were not published on the front page. The letters also came with ciphers — Zodiac said whoever cracked them would learn his true identity. less

On Aug. 1, 1969, newspapers began to receive the first of Zodiac's famous letters. The Vallejo Times Herald, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner all received letters from Zodiac boasting of his ... more

Photo: Chronicle Archive

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The 408-symbol cipher was broken by an unlikely pair: Donald Harden, a teacher at Alisal High in Salinas, and his wife Bettye. The pair decided to buckle down over the weekend and crack it. By the end of the weekend, they'd done it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Zodiac didn't give his real name, but the note was suitably creepy. "I like killing people because it is so much fun it is more fun than killing wild game in the forrest because man is the most [sic] dangeroue animal of all," it read. less

The 408-symbol cipher was broken by an unlikely pair: Donald Harden, a teacher at Alisal High in Salinas, and his wife Bettye. The pair decided to buckle down over the weekend and crack it. By the end of the ... more

Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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A month later, on Sept. 27, 1969, Zodiac committed his most infamous murder: that of Celia Shepherd. Shepherd and friend Bryan Hartnell were enjoying a day by Lake Berryessa when Shepherd noticed a strange man watching them from the trees. As he approached, they were shocked to see he was wearing a black executioner-style hood. He bound them and said he was an escaped prison inmate. Then, he began stabbing them. less

A month later, on Sept. 27, 1969, Zodiac committed his most infamous murder: that of Celia Shepherd. Shepherd and friend Bryan Hartnell were enjoying a day by Lake Berryessa when Shepherd noticed a strange man ... more

Photo: AP

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Thinking he'd killed them both, Zodiac returned to the parking lot, where he drew his signature cross-circle on Hartnell's car door (seen here) and, with a black pen, wrote the locations and dates of all three murder sites. At 7:40 p.m., he called the Napa County Sheriff's Office from a payphone to report the crime. Hartnell survived the attack, but Shepherd died at the hospital. less

Thinking he'd killed them both, Zodiac returned to the parking lot, where he drew his signature cross-circle on Hartnell's car door (seen here) and, with a black pen, wrote the locations and dates of all three ... more

Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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Two weeks later, Zodiac killed his final confirmed victim: San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine. Zodiac hailed the unlucky cab on the corner of Mason and Geary and asked to be driven to Washington and Maple. In the quiet Presidio Heights neighborhood, Zodiac pulled a 9 mm and shot Stine in the head. Three teens in a house across the street called the police, thinking they were watching a robbery. Police arrived on scene and a series of blunders allowed Zodiac to get away... less

Two weeks later, Zodiac killed his final confirmed victim: San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine. Zodiac hailed the unlucky cab on the corner of Mason and Geary and asked to be driven to Washington and Maple. In ... more

Photo: Chronicle Archive

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For reasons unknown, the dispatcher told police to look for a black male suspect. The police saw a white man walking near the scene but, zeroed in on a black suspect, they drove right by him. Many believe that man was Zodiac himself.

The teens and police worked with a sketch artist to create the famed composite sketch of Z seen here.

For reasons unknown, the dispatcher told police to look for a black male suspect. The police saw a white man walking near the scene but, zeroed in on a black suspect, they drove right by him. Many believe that ... more

Photo: Bettmann/Bettmann Archive

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San Francisco homicide inspectors David Toschi, left, and Bill Armstrong were assigned to the case. In the days and weeks that followed, they were sent more letters from Zodiac. Three days after Stine's murder, Zodiac sent a scrap of Stine's bloody shirt to prove he was a the killer. A month later, Zodiac mailed the 340-character cipher that remains unsolved to this day. less

San Francisco homicide inspectors David Toschi, left, and Bill Armstrong were assigned to the case. In the days and weeks that followed, they were sent more letters from Zodiac. Three days after Stine's ... more

Photo: Susan Ehmer, AP

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For the next half-decade, Zodiac continued to sporadically send letters to newspapers around California. Each one boasted of more victims, but none of those have ever been confirmed.

For the next half-decade, Zodiac continued to sporadically send letters to newspapers around California. Each one boasted of more victims, but none of those have ever been confirmed.

Photo: Chronicle Archives

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However, some believe that Cheri Jo Bates, an 18-year-old student at Riverside City College who was slain in 1966, may have been a victim of Zodiac. Bates was stabbed to death after leaving the library one night. Six months after her death, Riverside police received a letter that read: "Bates had to die. There will be more." A strange poem, similar to Zodiac's oeuvre, was also found scrawled on a desk in the library.

Riverside police dismiss any links between Bates' death and the Zodiac Killer.

However, some believe that Cheri Jo Bates, an 18-year-old student at Riverside City College who was slain in 1966, may have been a victim of Zodiac. Bates was stabbed to death after leaving the library one ... more

Photo: AP

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The best-known Zodiac suspect was Arthur Leigh Allen, who police investigated heavily at the time. Allen, who was fired from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, was imprisoned in 1974 for lewd acts on a boy. He died in 1992.

In 2002, SFPD tested his DNA against a partial profile they obtained from the saliva on stamps from Zodiac's letters. Allen was ruled out.

Detective Toschi said in 2010 that despite intensive investigation, their leads on Allen "turned out to be negative."

The best-known Zodiac suspect was Arthur Leigh Allen, who police investigated heavily at the time. Allen, who was fired from his job as a teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, was imprisoned in 1974 ... more

Photo: HO

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And so the mystery endures, endlessly fascinating amateur investigators and the public alike. The case has inspired everything from movies like "Zodiac" to TV shows like "American Horror Story."

And so the mystery endures, endlessly fascinating amateur investigators and the public alike. The case has inspired everything from movies like "Zodiac" to TV shows like "American Horror Story."

Photo: Merrick Morton

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Will DNA submitted to genealogy sites also finally catch the Zodiac Killer?

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A scant hope of catching the Zodiac Killer perhaps lies on the back of a postage stamp, licked by the murderer 50 years ago.

The arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, the man law enforcement believes is the East Area Rapist, has sparked myriad questions about the use of genealogy websites to revive long-cold cases. After DeAngelo’s capture, investigators revealed they submitted the East Area Rapist’s DNA to an open-source genealogy website called GEDmatch, where it found a match with a relative who also used the service. Detectives were then able to narrow their list of suspects, eventually arresting DeAngelo on suspicion of a string of rapes and murders across the state during the 1970s and 1980s.

Armed with millions of DNA profiles, uploaded online by curious family-history seekers across the world, could investigators finally decipher the Zodiac’s identity?

Like most things about the Bay Area’s most infamous serial killer, the answer is murky.

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Unlike the East Area Rapist, Zodiac didn’t leave his blood or semen at the crime scenes. The 1968 murders of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen on Lake Herman Road and the 1969 attack on Michael Mageau and Darlene Ferrin at Blue Rock Springs Park were committed with a gun, as was the murder of San Francisco cab driver Paul Stine. The remaining attack, on Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell at Lake Berryessa, was done with a knife.

There is no confirmed DNA evidence from Zodiac at any of the scenes.

The closest police have to Zodiac’s DNA are the stamps he used to post his cryptic letters. In the early 2000s, San Francisco investigators developed a partial profile by testing saliva traces retrieved from beneath a stamp. Because the profile is incomplete, it cannot rule anyone in. But it did rule out long-time suspect Arthur Leigh Allen in 2002.

"Because it's a partial, the process they used on the Golden State Killer would be much more difficult to narrow down to a specific individual," said Michael Butterfield, writer and researcher for ZodiacKillerFacts.com. "... They wouldn't be able to narrow it down to a single family unit."

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There are, of course, theories that Zodiac didn’t lick the stamps himself. But with the use of DNA profiling nearly two decades in the future, it’s unlikely Zodiac would have avoided licking stamps to foil the cops.

Then there’s the case of Cheri Jo Bates.

If you believe, as some do, that Bates’ murder was committed by the Zodiac Killer, a whole new avenue of possibilities opens up. Bates was 18 years old when she was found dead outside of the Riverside City College library on Halloween morning 1966. The college freshman had been beaten and stabbed repeatedly, her throat cut so deep she was almost decapitated.

Six months after Bates’ death, an unsigned letter arrived at the Riverside Daily Enterprise.

“BATES HAD TO DIE,” it read in block letters. “THERE WILL BE MORE.”

The Bates murder remains unsolved, but Riverside police have evidence that could someday point to a suspect. Under Bates’ fingernails were skin scrapings. Strands of hair, belonging to a stranger, were clutched in her hand.

The Zodiac Killer's last confirmed letter arrived at the San Francisco Chronicle in 1974. He was never heard from — as far as anyone knows for certain — again.

"The idea that Zodiac must be dead or in prison because we haven't heard from him is wrong," Butterfield said. "I am somebody who subscribes to the idea that Zodiac is, in a sense, like DeAngelo. He was just leading in his life.

"... I believe the case will be solved by the types of DNA evidence they have today. With that partial profile, with some renewed efforts that I've heard are going on, it's possible they could get a complete profile and do what they did with the Golden State Killer."